The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for making calls and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus of using a third party cellular phone to relay calls so as to avoid long distance cellular phone charges.
The popularity of cell phones has increased dramatically in recent years. This increase is due, in part, to the availability of “free” cellular phones packaged with low cost service plans. Some plans, for example, allow users to make unlimited calls within a local area. Also, plans are available that allow users to make unlimited calls to designated family members and friends. However, long distance calls, international calls, and other calls outside the plan may be prohibitively expensive.
Many new cell phones now provide data services, as well as voice services. Users can now use their cell phones to browse the Internet, send and receive emails, and converse with friends using Instant Messaging. While cell phones allow Internet access for data services, the data rates over cellular networks do not compare favorably to data rates that can be obtained over conventional land lines.
Many cell phones now include integrated WiFi and allow users to connect to the Internet over wireless local area networks (WLANS). With a wireless LAN connection, the user of a cell phone can avoid long distance or international tariffs using a voice-over IP (VoIP) application installed on the cellular phone. Voice-over IP is a technology that allows voice to be digitized and transmitted over the Internet. Using VoIP, the cellular phone could use VoIP whenever a wireless LAN is available to make long distance and/or international calls and thereby avoid the high cost normally imposed for such calls by most cellular phone plans. However, if the called party is not available using the VoIP application, either because the called party does not have an Internet connection or is currently off-line, the user may nevertheless be required to make some long distance and/or international calls over cellular networks.